Comedian Norm Macdonald‘s history with “Saturday Night Live” has been a bumpy one, to say the least. He was a cast member from 1993 to 1998, even anchoring “Weekend Update” from 1994 to 1997, but let’s just say his style of comedy didn’t always sit well with the folks signing his paychecks. In 1999, a year and a half after being fired, Macdonald came back to host “SNL,” describing what had happened to him as “sort of a disagreement with the management at the NBC. I wanted to keep my job. And they felt the exact opposite.” Read More »

Charlie Sheen posted a bizarre rant on TwitLonger.com Wednesday which, on the surface, appears to be a letter of support to beleaguered news anchor Brian Williams. However, the post’s overly vitriolic tone begs the question: Is the equally beleaguered Sheen trying to piggyback on Williams’ bad press in order to get himself back into the spotlight? Because it just may have worked.

In the post, Sheen praises Williams for his “24 years of inimitable professionalism” and his work “as a stone cold and passion driven and (PERFECTLY) fact based journalist.” The former “Two and a Half Men” actor went on to call the NBC journalist a “victim of a transparent and vile witch hunt! Erroneously ‘staged’ by hooligans, non coms, cowards and oligarchs.” Read More »

In a Twitter rant over the holidays, producer-director Judd Apatow took on the debate over the sexual allegations plaguing Bill Cosby, voicing several comments regarding the legendary comic and, most notably, blasting two Canadian venues for not canceling their scheduled Cosby appearances in early January.

On the heels of Sony Pictures‘ announcement that the controversy-plagued Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy had pulled in $15 million in digital sales via its 2 million-to-date downloads, Rogen, Franco and co-director Evan Goldberg took to social media to live-tweet an entire viewing of the film. In what co-director Rogen called “Pop-Up Video”-style commentary, he and Goldberg and co-star Franco offered up more than 200 tweets that included fun, decidedly non-divisive insights into the making of the movie.

In case you missed yesterday’s live-tweet, here are some of the “bonus material” highlights (Warning: These tweets discuss major plot details and joke reveals from “The Interview.” Read at your own risk.): Read More »

Twitter users sent more than 500 million tweets per day in 2014. On Wednesday, the social network released its annual round-up of the most influential and popular tweets of the year.

During the Academy Awards, host Ellen DeGeneres pulled together Oscar winners, nominees and other celebrities to take a “selfie.” She challenged viewers to make it the most shared tweet of all time. It didn’t take long for that to happen.

The photo featured stars like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o and Brad Pitt. Within hours, the tweet had eclipsed the previous record holder, a tweet sent by Barack Obama’s account after he won re-election in 2012. The Oscar selfie has been retweeted more than 3.3 million times – more than four times as many as the Election Night tweet. Click through to see the top Tweeters of the past year. Read More »

The person arguably having the most fun during Art Basel Miami Beach didn’t even leave New York.

For the past week, New York art critic Jerry Saltz has been stirring up a buzzy storm on his Twitter and Instagram accounts by posting inflammatory images and mocking some of the art world’s biggest dealers and curators—by name—for participating in the Miami art fair, which concludes Sunday.

Mr. Saltz keeps posting snapshots of medieval characters—the kind typically found in the margins of illuminated manuscripts—getting tortured in wincing ways. Then Mr. Saltz pairs these images with scathing, or cheeky, comments skewering everyone from artist Marina Abramovic to dealers Larry Gagosian and David Zwirner to curators Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist. The sum effect serves mainly to roast these art-world power brokers for joining in the hedonistic shopping experience that is the 13-year-old art fair, but they’re also recasting Mr. Saltz as social media’s Jonathan Swift. Read More »

The revolution wasn’t just televised in 2014. It was Photoshopped, tweeted, turned into an animated GIF and posted to Tumblr. This year, the Olympics, Oscars and World Cup all inspired memorable memes. Here’s a look back at some of the most amusing hashtags of 2014, as selected by the WSJ social media team. Read More »

For years, social media has played a role in spreading the message of movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. In 2014, social media continued to raise awareness and spark debate over contentious issues.

While this year’s movements grew organically, they had some help from high-profile supporters. Celebrities, CEOs, athletes and politicians joined in with their own posts, inspiring fans and followers to join the cause.

For some of the movements, the real-world impact wasn’t immediately evident. Did the millions of Facebook updates, tweets, YouTube videos and Tumblr posts actually make a difference? Share your opinion in the comments. Read More »

If you search for the #CosbyMeme hashtag on Twitter, the results that come up are almost certainly not what 77-year-old Bill Cosby and his handlers had in mind yesterday when they invited fans to participate in a “meme generator” that had been posted on billcosby.com.

As quickly as the meme generator went up, it was taken down, ostensibly because social-media users opted to go the rape-joke route with the Cosby photos instead of the intended family-friendly guffaws based on wholesome subjects like cookies, veggies and Cosby’s newsboy cap.

First came the surprising photos, then came the-trending-on-Twitter, then came the backlash, which ultimately resulted in several thinkpieces about how Renee Zellweger is the latest victim of Internet Mean Girl (and Boy)-dom – all in the span of one day.

And now, Zellweger, an Academy Award winner for her role as no-nonsense country girl Ruby Thewes in 2003′s “Cold Mountain,” has a response of her own to the worldwide renewed interest in her visage: “I’m glad folks think I look different!” the 45-year-old actress told “People” in an exclusive statement. “I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows.” Read More »

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.